1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to rubber tires and in particular to rubber tires with a flexible drive hub and a replaceable solid rubber tire tread
2. Background Art
Tires with solid rubber tread have been devised and used for vehicles such as construction equipment. To reduce the weight of the wheel and tire assembly the metal rim is constructed with a large diameter, relative to a corresponding pneumatic tire and the tread layer is thinner than a corresponding pneumatic tire having the same tire diameter. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,966,212 and 5,053,095 disclose solid rubber tire and wheel assemblies. U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,994 discloses improvements for preventing tire tread from slipping relative to the rim under the significant torque applied by heavy construction equipment. the tire is generally formed by bonding a layer of rubber to the metal rim and then bonding additional layers one to the next until the desired outside tire diameter is achieved. The layers are applied as raw rubber and then the entire wheel and tire assembly is placed in a large mold under pressure and heated to vulcanize the rubber.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,292, discloses a further improvement in the flexibility of solid rubber tires.
Presently, the tread of solid rubber tires is bonded directly to a metal rim that is bolted to the axle of the vehicle. When a tread ultimately wears out, the entire wheel and tire assembly is replaced on the vehicle. In many instances it is cost effective to remove the worn tire layer from the rim and reapply a tire tread with the process of raw rubber layers, bonding, molding and vulcanizing as described above.